Page 10 of The Unseelie War
“Then we will stop you.”
Nowthatmade him snort in derision. “And howpreciselydo you intend on doing that? You both are nothing but flecks of dust to me.And unto dust I shall eagerly return you, if you are thinking of standing in my way.” He took a step toward Nos. “I see no Weaver in your company. No exile. And you are no demigod, last I checked. Nothing but a man rendered under a whisper of a memory in a dream.”
“No.” His jaw twitched. Ibin looked nervous. “I cannot fight you alone.”
“I am the living embodiment of entropyitself,you fool.” He snarled, his voice dropping to a whisper. He needn’t be loud to be heard. “I am the void that swallows all. I was birthed by the Morrigan to consume the mistake she was too much of a coward to set right by her own hand.
Once more spreading his wings, he held his hands out at his side, letting the Maze out around him, the darkness spreading out like a fog. “And I. Am.Free!”
Nos and Ibin stepped back, their faces pale with recognition of the raw power being unleashed. The remaining Seelie turned and ran for her life.
But Valroy did not attack. He would not need to. Instead, he simply stood there, letting them feel the futility of their existence. “Go on, you little abandoned child’s toy, stitched together like so many cobbled together pieces of bric-a-brac. Go and find your precious little Weaver. Tell her what I plan to do. Tell her I gather my armies. Tell her that all of humanity’s tales of the things that whispered in the darkened trees and stole their tongues in the mists arenothingcompared to what I shall unleash upon them all.”
“And when she stands against you?” Nos took several staggering steps back from him, though his voice remained firm.
The thought was pure delight. “Then we shall learn which of us is the greater—and what happens when dreamstrulydie. Though I am more excited to face the exile, I must admit. Do you imagine…if I were to pluck off the spider’s legs, they would stay gone? I would love to find out.”
Nos took Ibin’s hand. “Come. We-we should go. We cannot win this.”
“We can’t just—we can’t just let him—” Ibin stammered, her neck red with anger. Valroy rather hoped the woman would pull back a fist and punch him in the face, but he suspected that Nos would not let that happen.
“We need to find Ava. And pray we she is stronger than I think.” Nos pulled Ibin away.
Valroy smiled and let them go. “I wish you the best of luck in your search. I look forward to finally meeting my half-brother, believe it or not. And I am eager to end this with the Weaver once and for all.”
Because if she wasn’t strong enough to stop him—and Valroy was certain she wasn’t—then there was no one powerful enough in this new reality to stand in his way.
And this merged reality would become a nightmare from which no one would ever wake.
One over which he would reign supreme.
And how wonderful was that?
Letting out a wistful sigh, he folded his wings at his back and leaned his sword against his shoulder as he turned to walk the other way, whistling a cheerful tune.
I do wonder where my wife has gotten off to, though…
This would be so much more enjoyable with her here.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ava walked through the nightmare streets of the nightmare mashup world she had created and…
Didn’t know what to do.
Justdidn’t.She didn’t even know where to begin. Everywhere she looked, there was some new kind of nonsense all mashed together with some other kind of madness. Monsters were forming out of someone’s terror, or perhaps they were just born of Tir n’Aill or the Web, and wreaking havoc on unsuspecting fae and humans alike.
And all she could do was…walk along with Serrik and Puck and…think. And hope she came up with a plan. Or hope a plan just sort of fell into her lap. Or that a plan just sort ofhappenedto her.
She also didn’t know what to do with the fact that Serrik was clearly set on his path to revenge—killing every fae he came across, whether she liked it or not. Well, almost every fae. Puck and some notable exceptions notwithstanding.
Glancing over at Puck, she found him flipping through images on his tablet. “Serrik called you a half breed?”
“Half Seelie, half Unseelie.” The silver-haired creature answered without looking up. “Only one. Like Tigger.” He flashed a momentary grin at her. “Twice as manic and twice as adorable.”
“Huh.” She paused. “I’m surprised there’s only been one instance of…y’know.Cross-pollination.”
Puck snorted. “It usually doesn’t work. Literally not genetically compatible. I’m just a freak ‘o nature.”
